Power adapters are used to supply power to a wide variety of electronic products. Such products can include laptop and notebook computers, printers, scanners, and DVD/CD players, to name just a few. Some power adapters are AC-to-DC power adapters, which receive AC input power, such as from a wall outlet in a home or business, and generate a DC output. Other power adapters are DC-to-DC power adapters, which receive DC input power at one voltage, such as from a car battery or an airline jack, and generate a DC output at another voltage.
A typical power adapter provides power to the electronic load device to which it is connected at a nominal regulated voltage. The adapter can supply a predetermined maximum amount of current, average current, or both. Different electronic devices, even those which operate at the same nominal voltage, may draw different maximum amounts of current during operation. While a power adapter that could supply the largest amount of current used by any of a variety of electronic devices could be provided, it is typically not feasible to do so. Generally, the larger the amount of maximum current to be supplied, the more expensive and physically larger the power adapter will be. As a result, a variety of different power adapter models with different maximum current ratings matched to different electronic products are often utilized. However, this results in additional design work for each different adapter, complicates the production and stocking of adapters, and the reduction in unit quantities of any particular model adapter can raise production costs.